Greater New Orleans

Tulane Green Wave defensive end Royce LaFrance (48) hits the arm of Tulsa Golden Hurricane quarterback Dane Evans (9) as he throws, forcing a second quarter incompletion during the game between Tulsa and Tulane at the Superdome on Saturday, October 26, 2013. (Michael DeMocker, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)
(Michael DeMocker)

The Tulsa football team is prepared for a quick, blitzing-style defense from Tulane when the Green Wave visit for a season-opening game Thursday. "We've been working on that from day one," Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship said Monday in a conference call with American Athletic Conference coaches.

"You never know it for sure in the first game, but certainly as an m.o. being a blitzing-style, pressure-style defense, and we needed them to see those kinds of those fast reaction-type plays," Blankenship said.

Blankenship said redshirt sophomore quarterback Dane Evans is better prepared now than he was last season as a replacement for then-senior Cody Green, who missed the second half of the season after a knee injury.

"Cody was a 6-foot-4 -- 240, 250 (pounds) -- and was a downhill runner," the coach said. "That's not Dane. Dane is a guy that was need to stay in the pocket and move him out of the pocket. He can scramble and do those thins, but he's not going to be a guy that we design a lot of quarterback runs for.

"We've really done a better job getting him a lot more comfortable with the offensive passing game, knowing exactly where our guys are going to be and trusting them to be there and his job of reading the defenses, I think he's really accepted the challenge. We've give him a lot more flexibility to check at the line to get us in the right plays."

Evans last season against Tulane threw three interceptions in a game the Green Wave won 14-7 at the Superdome. Evans completed 13 of 30 passes for 139 yards and was sacked once. He ran six times for 29 yards.

"Coach (Curtis) Johnson has done a great job of recruiting speed to play with, especially defensively," Blankenship said. "I know they've got a lot of young players they're excited about. Their speed on defense certainly caused us some problems a year ago. We've been working against that all through our preparation."

Both teams played in Conference USA last season and will make their AAC debuts Thursday. The game also marks the return for Devon Walker to the site of an injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down.